The Los Angeles Times has read the congressional report on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation called Fast and Furious during which federal agents sold 1,765 guns to Mexican smugglers (and then drug cartels), and guess what? It was a really bad idea.

Two of the weapons from Fast and Furious, which was run as part of Project Gunrunner, were found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder last year in Arizona. And there's more:

At least 195 of the weapons have been traced to Mexico, found mainly at crime scenes, but ATF agents quoted in the report said more than 1,700 firearms were trafficked "to known criminals or cartel elements south of the border and elsewhere" under the operation.

"I cannot see anyone who has one iota of concern for human life being OK with this," Agent John Dodson told committee interviewers.

In one case, Agent Pete Forcelli told the interviewers, an agent was making insistent calls over the radio, saying that gun traffickers had recognized him and begging for permission to stop the suspects. "But he was told to not stop the car with the guns in it," he said.

That doesn't really sound like the same operation that the ATF is so proud of:

Project Gunrunner's objective is to deny Mexican drug cartels the tools of the trade, which they employ to murder rival drug traffickers, civilians, as well as political, military, and law enforcement figures in order to strengthen their grip on the lucrative drug and firearms routes into and out of the United States.

"[T]o deny Mexican drug cartels the tools of the trade" would mean not selling them weapons and letting them get away with it, no?